Knockhill: Shedden: The gloves are off!

Honda's Gordon Shedden prepares for his champion's homecoming, sitting fourth in the standings, as the BTCC heads for Knockhill this weekend.

Honda's Gordon Shedden is hoping for a repeat of his Snetterton success as the reigning British Touring Car Champion prepares for his champion's homecoming at Knockhill this weekend.

Despite what was largely been up-and-down campaign for the Team Dynamics driver, Shedden's dramatic last gasp second win of the year at Norfolk has thrown the Scot right back into the thick of the title race with four weekends to go.

Shedden was victorious during the second race in front of his partisan crowd last season, and, as the 37-year old points out, arrives at Knockhill this year with less of a points deficit than he faced in 2015.

The Honda Civic Type-R driver currently sits fourth in the championship, 24-points shy of West Surrey Racing's Rob Collard at the top of the table.

"While the points are clearly worth the same at Knockhill as anywhere else, I only get to race in Scotland once a year so it does mean a lot to me - the support I receive is amazing and really gives me an extra spring in my step," said Shedden.

"Having anticipated a difficult weekend, our results at Snetterton definitely exceeded our expectations, enabling us to move up the championship standings and cut our deficit to the top of the table - so much so that I'm actually closer to the lead points-wise than I was at this stage last year!"

Having entered the Snetterton carrying 21 kilos of success ballast, Shedden - as virtue of his strong points haul in Norfolk - will now head into this weekend with an extra 27 kilos of performance weight.

"We're right back in the fight and the gloves are off. We've obviously got a bit more ballast on-board again now, but we're up for the challenge and if we can repeat our performance from Snetterton, that would be phenomenal," Shedden concluded.